The Health Benefits of Fasting, Good or Bad?

No calories, you won’t have to cook either and you’ll burn weight automatically.

But is fasting healthy? And you can use fasting as a strategy to lose weight?

Introduction

There are certainly conflicting reports on this matter.

You would think when you have a day where you won’t eat a thing, you will automatically slow basal metabolism. However, this is not correct!

Fasting does not have an immediate negative impact on your metabolism.

In fact, a study done at the University of Rochester shows that you will only slow metabolism after fasting for 60 hours.

And the delay is only 8%. The study showed that your metabolism is not slowed, but rather accelerates rapidly after 36 to 48 hours.

The feeling of real starvation will occur after approximately three days without food.

What happens is that your body will convert protein into glucose. And the No. 1 source of protein are your muscles in this case.

Until then, your body uses primarily glycogen (stocked in the liver and muscles) and body fat. Your body will not break down proteins at all and does so only as a last resort for energy.

The Health Benefits of Fasting

Research shows that there are certain health benefits associated with regular fasting.

The negative effects only come in effect when you are fasting for a long time.

Interesting to know is that fasting promotes insulin sensitivity, you can cope better with stress, fat will burn more easily and may even extend your life!

But it doesn’t stop!

Fasting promotes detoxification

Many of the processed foods that we consume daily are packed with artificial sweeteners and harmful additives. Many of these additives are stored in the fat tissue.

When fasting, you can burn fat and reduce the amount of toxins in your body.

Fasting is good for your digestion

When you fast your digestive system has to do less work. Of course it does not stop, but it is still minimal.

Fasting helps with certain addictions

When you adopt a conscious and healthy way of living. Then you’ll start to notice that you are unlikely again to adopt unhealthy habits and addictions. This also helps in other addictions, such as nicotine, sugar, alcohol etc.

The health benefits of fasting is consistent with the findings of the calorie restrictive diet.

Disclaimer: A low-calorie diet is only beneficial if you get enough of the right nutrients, this is not for everyone.

Basically it is good and healthy to fast regularly but not more than 16 or 24 hours in a row. It is good to improve your health and in addition, fasting can also help to break unhealthy habits.

Now I must say that you have to adhere to certain rules before you begin.

It is wise to work with a ‘fast food’ strategy.

You can fast 16 to 20 hours and then over a period of 4 to 8 hours you make sure you get enough micro and macronutrients.

The idea is that you have enough calories and nutrients get for the whole day, this may mean that you have to prepare some great meals.

The Risks of Fasting

It is not possible for everyone to go and start with fasting. Let me just explain it: Fasting should not be seen as a ” fast track ” to lose weight. The base must be good and fasting is rather an addition to an already healthy diet.

Fasting is not recommended for pregnant women, children and certain health conditions.

The health benefits of fasting show that we need to think differently about food. It’s not that we hunger anyway to prevent.

Often we are programmed to eat at certain times and for certain quantities. In addition, we have rather too many than too few calories.

Just as with all fast will be carried out consciously and wisely. The benefits are there, but only if you do it the right way and that fasting is an extension of your already healthy lifestyle.

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